The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XII

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "After the Music Is Over" from While We're at It (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: The last time I saw The Mighty Mighty Bosstones on stage, which due to the band's break-up turned out to be the last time I will ever see them on stage, was in August 2019, in the "before times." During the album track of "After the Music Is Over," there is a two-second pause before the songs entered a more swelling, anthemic phase. During their live performance of "After the Music Is Over," at that point they didn't just pause but stopped the song entirely as each Bosstones took a knee on the stage for twenty to thirty seconds. That blew my socks off.

"The wrath cut a path of such sorrow,
So sad and so abrupt,
(Tell God we can't let it corrupt,)
Any hope we have left for tomorrow.

"(The final and the very last bastion,)
(Hold on tight to every shred that still exists,)
Remember all the pain and all the passion,
(Fight on with your hard head and fists!)"

"After the music is over,
When what needs to be's been said,
After the tears have all been shed,
When it's over, what is after that?

With The Mighty Mighty Bosstones added to the too-long list of the things lost over the last two years, as the botched response to the pandemic exposed the rot, ineptitude, & venality of all our civilization's major institutions, the question has to be asked: After the music is over—when what needs to be's been said, after the tears have all been shed—when it's over, what is after that? Fortunately, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones did not leave us without an answer, a glimmer of hope.

"After the music's over,
We will hear the music once again.
After the music's over,
We will hear the music again.